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The biography of the artist A.Repšis is full of awards, published books, around fifty exhibitions of personal and group photographs. One of the most striking features of the artist’s work are the photos from the perspective of a bird’s eye view. We talked to the photographer about his work, his passion for photography with buzz and the latest photographic project on Lithuanian prisons.
Freedom of 4m2 is not your first photographic project to use buzz. What topics do you choose from a bird’s eye perspective? What is interesting about photography?
– I started shooting from a height a long time ago, when we were still using film for photography. I joined the Pasvalys club “Feel the power of flight”. I had pilots, bikers, pilots. We did a barter exchange with them: when they need photos, I take free photos and when I need them, they transport me. My first buzz It was made at home. When I first got up, I photographed road viaducts so that road users could order. So I thought about how things happened so quickly here! You no longer need to speak to the pilot; he cannot, the weather is not suitable for flying. And here I can always take photos from above. At any time, from any height. Planes fly too high, balloons fly where the wind blows, and buzz You can go anywhere.
Photography buzz It is my main occupation. The most important camera is the one you are flying. buzz, and what is intended to be photographed on the ground is merely auxiliary. I try to capture as many different things as possible from above. With buzz I started looking for different angles and perspectives. After all, there are still many things to discover, though drones and every third person has. I’m also looking for more interesting plans to bring the entire composition and image to something different, to get attention. This also happened with a series of prisons.
Andrius Repšys. From the “Libertad 4m2” cycle
– Why did the jail issue get your attention this time?
– This idea arose when it was necessary to take photos near the prison. I don’t like to argue, so I called the Department of Prisons to find out what I needed to do to fly nearby. During communication with the spokesperson, the idea arose that it would be interesting to fly inside as well. We laughed at that, but that was the end. That thought, however, did not abandon me. After about two or three years, I called the department again.
Any flight, be it a bird or buzzor an airplane: it symbolizes freedom. And the prisons, the prisons are in captivity in any case. This contradiction was my starting point. Another aspect is always interesting to look at what nobody sees. This is how I started the project. I really didn’t know what I would see inside or what I could photograph. The result, I think, is quite interesting.
– There are many security measures in prisons, you cannot have mobile phones, etc., so a photo of the daily life of the prison upon arrival buzz Sounds a bit utopian. Didn’t you face challenges?
Oddly enough, I don’t know if I had easier and better communication with someone. We signed a contract with the Department of Prisons, they provided all the conditions I needed. Of course, he didn’t need them much. I chose a day when the weather was better, I called, tentatively saying when it would be. When I arrived, I contacted the local manager again, he informed everyone that a photo would be taken.
I did not have to enter the area myself, I was near the fence. While taking photos, they turned off their security system, which could bring me down buzz: after all, that happens buzz trying to bring something unauthorized to jail. Of course, there were more interesting situations. For example, in Šiauliai, the locals called the police because they were flying over an interrogation cell. At the Pravieniškės Correctional Facility, prisoners were loading rubbish near the fence, surprised and asking what he was doing. I mean, I take photos, I can take photos of you. “No, no, no! You can always be photographed, but not only when we transport garbage, you don’t have to show us garbage.” There was, and officers asked, what I was doing, but I always had a contract with the Department of Prisons. Anyway, no problem. It was very good to work, nobody was going to pose for me, my whole life was as it is. It was all real.
– How long have you been collecting material?
– I have photographed each prison two or three times. The whole project can be done in a month, but I was in no special rush. The seasons are changing, and the action with them is changing, as are the colors and lighting. I did the project because it occurred to me. It was not an order, so there were no deadlines of any kind. I thought about what two years would not rush me. It took two years.
– Whether you took photos during certain hours or spent the whole day driving buzz?
– I flew over the prison for about two or three hours. It depended on what action was inside, how many people were there, what they were doing. Time is limited by download. drono Batteries I didn’t specifically choose morning or afternoon, but I did try to drive during work hours to cause fewer problems for employees. Usually everything took place in the morning or during the day.
– There are many unwritten rules of life in prisons. While working with the material already collected, did you interpret the recorded everyday moments, were you interested in the prison culture itself? Did you just capture a natural life with no intention of making daily rituals make sense?
I captured the natural life, but some things really got stuck. For example, people march in quick two, three steps from wall to wall. He reaches the wall, turns around and comes back again. They walk in this way so that no one crosses the road and do not follow each other. This is how energy is spilled, because you can’t sit, lie down or play sports all the time.
– What are the most interesting events that you got stuck in prison life?
– I can’t stand out. At first they always look buzzThey are interested in everything, waving, yelling, some cursing or showing all kinds of signs. It depends on how you feel about the whole process. Some scream, “Oh, how nice buzz! “others – with insults” Dink from here! “I don’t hear everything, but buzz Sound does not transmit.
Everything in that life is amazing. They say that those who live in prison never see the horizon. In fact, when you go down the stairs, you only see the fence and the sky. Maybe I can already see it on the fifth floor of the building, but not elsewhere. These seem small, but when you think about them, if they suddenly ceased to exist, it would become difficult to live as if you had never seen the horizon. You would miss him very much. He seems to be sitting, there is no need to do anything … But as far as I’m concerned, isolation and incarceration are really great pressure on people.
When you think more broadly, we are all somewhere a little closed. We all have to do something, even if we don’t want to. We have to go to work, do this or that. Nor do we have complete freedom. But man may not need complete freedom. It is unclear what she would do with it.
– In the presentation of the exhibition you are talking about drono opportunities open up, but it also touches on the controversial issue of privacy, which is destructive drones power. Where do you think it is possible to draw the line between what is allowed and what is not?
– It is very difficult to draw that line. There are now no-fly zones in cities. They are very stupid because there is no possibility of obtaining permission to photograph them. For example, the Vilnius Cathedral Square cannot be photographed. Decorate the Christmas tree so that the entire composition is visible only from above, but you cannot fly there. They all fly illegally because they cannot obtain permits. But on the other hand, if there were no no-go zone to decorate the Christmas tree, it would start drones wars because every third person has them and it would be very interesting for everyone to photograph them.
As I mentioned, it is not good for a person to have total freedom because it is not clear what is going on in their mind and what they can think. For privacy, there must be restrictions, but there must also be a system for you to obtain permission. When insurance is absolute, with no exceptions, people break it and fly illegally.
People are afraid drones, thinks they are spying, then stealing. Regulation should be, but artists should be allowed. For example, there is a sculpture in the Ministry of National Defense and I have no chance to photograph it, although I am not interested in flying into the Ministry’s territory. I can’t get up because they would catch me right away. And you could take interesting representative photos to popularize Lithuania. I don’t understand those no-fly zones … I even flew in Minsk and got permits, although, they say, there is a dictatorship. I wrote where I want to fly and I wrote it. And I can’t. The problem is because there are people like me who want to take photos, create art. And there are those who are interested in other things: falling, for example, in the window and seeing what is happening there. I don’t think anyone is in a situation like this. Therefore, there must be a regulation, but there must also be exceptions.
Andrius Repšys. From the “Libertad 4m2” cycle
– What will be your next project?
– I have many thoughts on my mind, I think of five projects. The following will be the one with the most material. All other projects have no deadline. I can start today, in five years. I look to see if the basis of the series emerges (that is, five six good photos), then I take and finish that project.
A series that I’m going to do specifically about privacy from drono Hard to hide The only thing that betrays him is a loud roar. I have an idea to create a series on religion too. The thought arose from the occasional flight over the churches. You see what it looks like from above. In my older expositions and in this one, critics continue to mention the term “seeing with the sight of God.” With the photos you want to explore, see, listen to religious researchers, what and why we show God from below.
After the announcement of the quarantine and the fact that one of my exhibitions did not take place, a project on the quarantine “18:08” was born spontaneously. I photographed the empty squares of the city at exactly 6:08 p.m. Perhaps ideas for a new project come up so spontaneously again. I myself enjoyed the prison project very much, I will try to continue it abroad. I will meet with Latvia and Estonia to take photos of their prisons. It would be interesting to take photos in Belarus. I will continue this project and I will be curious to compare how we are doing and how we are doing abroad.
WHO? A.Repšis photography exhibition “4m2 Laisvės”.
Where? Kaunas Photography Gallery.
When? Open until July 19.
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